diff --git a/src/plugins/analysis/cve_lookup/internal/data_parsing.py b/src/plugins/analysis/cve_lookup/internal/data_parsing.py
index 15e48f181..3227a42e0 100644
--- a/src/plugins/analysis/cve_lookup/internal/data_parsing.py
+++ b/src/plugins/analysis/cve_lookup/internal/data_parsing.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import lzma
 import re
 from pathlib import Path
-from shlex import split
-from subprocess import run
+from typing import Iterable
 
 import ijson
 import requests
@@ -28,15 +28,6 @@ def _retrieve_url(download_url: str, target: Path):
                     fp.write(chunk)
 
 
-def download_and_decompress_file() -> Path:
-    """
-    Downloads data from a URL, saves it to a file, decompresses it, and returns the path.
-    """
-    _retrieve_url(CVE_URL, OUTPUT_FILE)
-    run(split(f'unxz --force {OUTPUT_FILE.name}'), cwd=DB_DIR, check=True)
-    return DB_DIR / OUTPUT_FILE.stem  # the .xz suffix was removed during extraction
-
-
 def extract_english_summary(descriptions: list) -> str:
     for description in descriptions:
         if description['lang'] == 'en':
@@ -88,17 +79,14 @@ def extract_data_from_cve(cve_item: dict) -> CveEntry:
     return CveEntry(cve_id=cve_id, summary=summary, impact=impact, cpe_entries=cpe_entries)
 
 
-def parse_data() -> list[CveEntry]:
+def parse_data() -> Iterable[CveEntry]:
     """
     Parse the data from the JSON file and return a list of CveEntry objects.
     """
-    cve_path = download_and_decompress_file()
-    with cve_path.open('rb') as fp:
-        # the file is huge, so we use ijson to stream the data
+    _retrieve_url(CVE_URL, OUTPUT_FILE)
+    # the downloaded file is a xz archive, so we use lzma to open it:
+    with lzma.open(OUTPUT_FILE, 'r') as fp:
+        # inside the archive is a huge JSON file, so we use ijson to stream the data
         for cve_item in ijson.items(fp, 'cve_items.item'):
             yield extract_data_from_cve(cve_item)
-    cve_path.unlink()  # remove the temporary file after we are done
-
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-    parse_data()
+    OUTPUT_FILE.unlink()  # remove the temporary file after we are done